This one will be a little short, but it’s worth mentioning for much of the other topics to make sense. Who are God’s chosen people? If you said “The Jews”, you wouldn’t be alone. In fact, if you do a quick Google search, that’s the answer you’ll get. However, that’s not entirely correct.
If you click on one of the links from your search, you may find someone who points out that the Jews are God’s chosen people by using this scripture: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6) The problem here is that God was not speaking to “the Jews”, He was speaking to the the people who left Egypt. That was the Israelites and all of those who left Egypt with them.
You might be thinking this is just semantics; Israelites, Jews, same thing. But it’s actually not just a different word but the same meaning. Later on I want to discuss why Jesus came. (Spoilers: He didn’t come for the Jews, only to be rejected by them, like many people believe.) He came for “the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) The lost sheep of Israel are not the Jews.
In order to fully understand the Word and God’s purpose and plan, it’s important that we have the right understanding… even if it sounds like semantics.